War Royal
by Golden Gecko
Summary: Extreme AU - All OCs./The COG have always had the bravest, strongest soldiers but can they defeat 3 armies gunning for human extinction! Skynet and its army of terminators, The xenomorphs and their endless supply of warriors, and the yautja and their masterful hunting tactics. Earth has been decimated by nuclear fire becoming ground zero for the ultimate universal war of survival!
1. Dead Empire

A skull flew over Lucas's head from the earth-shaking explosion as he hid in the burned out remains of a car. Seeing the metallic army marching his way, he tried to make himself unseen. Holding his Lancer rifle close to him, he hoped it could be a direct line to any god who might be listening. Holding it tightly for some sort of security, breathing heavily on the gun, he broke out in a cold sweat as he had that combat intense state-of-mind flood over him. His eyes pools of combat flare trying to survive the oncoming metallic army.

The explosion that had sent the skull flying was the death rattle of a battle with the machines. Most of the Gear soldiers involved had been killed. The only one left alive was Lucas. The only reason he had survived was because he had gone into the car for cover. He had been fighting hard on the ground but now there was just dead silence. All he heard was the heavy clicking of steel over gravel. T-600s, 800s and one anti-air hovercraft. Four barrels on each side at least twelve feet in length. Ebbing ever closer to him with a T-600 in command of the vehicle scanning the area for the single surviving soldier.

Lucas's armor was heavy and his hands sweaty inside his gloves with nervousness as he closed his eyes and tried to block out the heart pounding fear he was feeling. There were still some Gears left alive. They had the task of covering the squads on the ground but not even their supportive fire did much to save the now dead Gears all around Lucas and his wreckage cover. The living Gears were no more than fifty yards away but it felt like a mile or two. Turning his head slightly, Lucas looked at them standing atop a three story building that had stood up against the large atomic blast that had rocked New York City a decade ago.

'A decade ago.' Lucas thought to himself. That was how long it had been since Skynet had launched the nuclear holocaust that should have wiped out the human race and the invaders from space. The only thing it had done was make a more sparse playing field for the four armies that were ravaging the globe.

Lucas wanted to sprint right for the small tower but it was no use. He would be picked off by the encroaching army. He couldn't stay in the skeletal remains of the vehicle though. It was suicide if he did. He had to think of some kind of diversion.

Suddenly, a voice leapt into his ear. It was the voice of one Lieutenant Arnold Schimer. He was the commanding officer of Gamma 9. The supporting squad atop the small yet sturdy building. His squad was supporting Bravo 2 - Lucas's former squad.

"Bravo 2, this is Gamma 9. Come in Bravo 2. Damn it, somebody down there talk to me!"

Lucas brought two fingers to his earpiece to respond. "I'm the only one left! Get down here and get me!"

"Roger that Bravo, we're on our way!"

Lucas nodded his head and turned back around only to have those red, glowing, glass eyes staring him right in the face. He suddenly leapt out of the car firing at the metal foot soldier. The bullets just seem to make sparks off the metal as most of them ricocheted right off the chassis chest of the terminator. It started to lower a weapon of its own. Lucas knew it was a laser rifle and if he let the machine get off one shot at such a close range, he would be done for.

Leaping up with his Lancer in one hand still firing at the metal destroyer machine, Lucas suddenly grabbed a hold of a Bolo grenade. He swung it with tremendous force until planting the explosive end right into the chrome dome of the terminator. The Bolo's metal spikes plunged into the metal skull, bashing the head sideways, sinking deep into the computer parts inside the machine's head. This threw off its aim, the machine firing its laser rifle but all it succeeded in doing was sending eight, hot laser shots right into the ground. It reeled from the tremendous force of the Bolo grenade being planted right into its skull.

Lucas took off running for cover. The terminator raised it's head, standing tall, trying to get a fix on Lucas but it was too late. The grenade exploded sending metal pieces flying in all different directions. Hardly nothing was left of the mechanical soldier as all of its parts fell on the ground, kicking up small plums of grey dust and dirt where they landed.

Meanwhile, Lucas was sprinting right for the small building. The rest of the machines picked up on the explosion systematically turning his direction. Lucas was roadie running like he was trained but that was not going to save him from gunfire in such a coverless landscape. He couldn't keep up the uncomfortable sprint for too long either. Especially not no fifty yards.

On the other side of a cement doorframe to the building was Gamma squad. They were running down a few stairs and the one in front took first position with his Lancer aiming right at the incoming metal-heads with Gamma squad exiting in a line against the building. Their Lancers roaring out against the machine army as Lucas ran right underneath their bullets.

The terminators retaliated with a barrage of laser light and gunfire of their own. The hovercraft had now unleashed its deadly payload and bullets began to riddle the building with Gamma squad doing their best to slow the machines down.

Lucas finally collapsed down on the ground exhausted from the fifty yard sprint he had just accomplished. Looking upwards, he saw two of Gamma squad grab him by his arms, dragging him into the building, taking cover themselves inside the cement walls. They continued firing with one hand as they dragged the winded Gear. Not as accurate as before but still quite effective. The other two quickly dodged into the building and continued to fire blindly at the encroaching army.

Trying his best to get up the stairs himself, Lucas also continued to fire at the metal soldiers while the four downstairs gave him covering fire. He nearly tripped over himself lashing out with his Lancer against the metal army beyond the doorframe. A primal yell and a bull-like grunt of anger and fortitude came from Lucas. His Lancer opening up with a bright roar of bullets against the encroaching metal monsters. The four suddenly began to follow him up the stairs hoping to reach the top as well. Lucas plowed through a metal hatchway to the top of the building where he was greeted by two Lancer barrels aimed right for his head.

One of the Gears down below him yelled up, "Hey, what's the hold up?!"

Lucas quickly shot his eyes in the direction of the voice but quickly returned his gaze to the two Lancer barrels. Soon, the barrels raised up and two soldiers, one of whom being Arnold Schimer, waved Lucas on up.

Watching the Gears clamber up, Arnold turned to gaze upon the post-apocalyptic landscape. He was a strong, experienced Gear acquiring the rank of Lieutenant somewhat early in his military career. He was also the squad leader of Gamma and had been for awhile. His experience showed through his face having the "thousand yard stair" no matter what accompanied by several scars littering his face. The most noticeable ones were three, long, streaking claw marks across the right side of his face, not to mention all of his right earlobe was missing leaving just the hole and some of the upper cartilage.

Lucas struggled a bit to get up to the top of the building but soon was standing on the cement roof. The other soldiers behind him were helped up by the one other Gear that was with Arnold from before. Lucas couldn't figure out why the soldier hadn't helped him up but he didn't dwell on it for too long.

Putting his Lancer rifle on his back removing a Longshot from his back, Arnold gazed through the blue filter scope and trained in on one of the closest terminators. A duo of 800s. He put a bullet right through the terminator's cranium. The bullet blasted right through the machine's dome and plowed into the ground making a small hole in the dirt past the metal soldier's feet. The terminator was rocked back by the shot as a huge gapping hole was left in its head. It swung it's head back around with smoke bellowing out of the hole left inside its chrome cranium. It focused in on Arnold with its two red eyes glaring up at the leader of the squad. Its targeting reticule glazed right over Arnold and the machine was ready to annihilate the Gear leader. Information leaked right into its red-colored, night vision making perfect calculations to decimate Arnold.

Arnold popped the empty shell casing out of the rifle and took out a fresh bullet from a small pouch on his left hip. He loaded the bullet into the bolt-action, aiming at the other machine. The partner terminator to the left hadn't even stopped when its factory counterpart had been shot. It was close to the entrance to the building when suddenly another shot rang-out and went right through the terminator's right red eye. The red light eyeball exploded inside the metal skull and again, like before, the bullet penetrated right into the barren landscape making a pintsized hole behind the damaged machine.

The left terminator was knocked to the ground spinning as it fell. It began to roll to the side of the building. It dug its metal fingers right into the cement wall clinging to the exterior for balance. Its red night vision screen flickering as its chips and processors tried to diagnosis the damage. That red night screen still flickering like a reception-less TV. The terminator was struggling to get its bearings back.

Arnold eject the second round with authority growling as he did. He reached into his side satchel and produced another large, long, sharp bullet. He slid it right into the chamber but soon three purple beams flew at him causing Arnold and Lucas to duck for cover. They both stayed pressed against the edge of roof.

The laser rifle from the right terminator trilled with power as a storm of purple, hot light rained into the slight ledge at the top of the building. The purple beams continually flew upwards at the two making Arnold lock a bullet firmly in place. He held the sniper rifle grunting as the purple beams soared.

"Now I'm pissed!" Arnold growled. He slumped his body over the edge aiming for the terminator from the hip. He had little time to pull off a shot. The bullet launched from the rifle speeding right down to the machine, flying right past the pivoting solar-plexus and the metal hip bone. The bullet impacted the ground hitting nothing on the terminator.

Arnold went back to cover and popped the spent shell out of the chamber grunting out two words, "Motherfucker!" He bolted another round into place and was about to take another shot when suddenly a whole barrage of purple laser light launched at them. The concrete was starting to give way to the lasers and some of the shots were starting to get through.

It was the rest of the mechanized army. They had caught sight of Arnold and the rest on the roof. Even though the other two terminators were damaged, these ones were fresh with the anti-air hovercraft giving them support. Being in lethal range they began to fire up at the squad. Most of them giving support to the one still firing on the ground. The building the Gears were standing on wouldn't hold up to much more catastrophic pounding from the AA hovercraft.

Gamma 9 joined lieutenant Arnold along with Lucas behind cover, firing blindly down at the metal army. Some of the bullets hit the machines but none of them were damaged enough to go down. The AA guns on the hovercraft pumped out fire and lead with a ferocity that none of the Gears could hope to fight against. A full metal storm unleashed as lead pounded the cement turning the structure into a grey, smoke covered, hollowed-out cube. The bullets did greater damage to the solid concrete bringing chunks of the building down to the ground. The barrels of the hovercraft raging from the vehicle with bright light and hot lead.

The concrete border was about gone when Lucas rolled out of cover heading for the hatch to the bottom floor. Arnold yelled out after Lucas, "What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

Lucas looked back at Arnold, yelling out, "Keep'em busy!" He suddenly jumped down the hole to the first floor.

Arnold rolled away from cover of the cement along with the rest of Gamma 9. The cement edge gone, completely annihilated by the AA guns. They were now sitting ducks as Arnold looked around for some kind of cover as one of his teammates was hit. Several large caliber bullets ripped through his body and armor. Blood flew in large gouts staining the armor as he was torn to pieces, falling off the building with his Lancer rifle still firing away.

Lucas was in cover at the edge of the doorway. He saw the body fall onto the ground from above. He closed his eyes in emotional agony. He couldn't help but blurt out, "Goddamn it!" His Lancer rifle was heavy but he put it on his back and grabbed a hold of his last two grenades he had. He began to swing them furiously gearing up his mind and body for what he had to do.

On top of the building, the rest of Gamma squad was doing their best to draw the large hovercraft's fire. Arnold was even able to take down two 800's before a voice came into his ear along with the rest.

"Come in Gamma 9, this is KR18 inbound to your position for immediate EVAC! You've got a swarm of slick-heads converging on your position, over!"

Arnold responded back, "Roger that KR18, we are more then ready for pick-up! Give me an ETA."

"ETA in five minutes Gamma 9, stay alive!"

"Copy KR18!"

Several shots from the massive beast of a vehicle flew past Arnold as he dodged to his right. One of his squad members said to him, "Arnold, that bastard better hurry up and do what he's going to do!"

Arnold said to both his teammate and Lucas through his com, "Kid, you better be shit-lighting quick with whatever you're going to do!"

Downstairs, Lucas was still spinning his grenades taking a peek outside. He just said to Arnold through their communications, "Get ready for the fireworks!" He suddenly dodged outside, roadie-running right for the hovercraft. No machine saw him until it was too late. He ran right up the front of the vehicle between the firing gun barrels planting the two grenades right into the driver of the vehicle. He shot at the T-600 driver and then bounded off the back of the chair landing on the ground. He rolled a couple of times coming to a stop on his feet. He was bent over looking back at the vehicle.

Two massive explosions came from the vehicle as its large guns were enveloped in fire, going up in a mess of fire and metal. The terminator in the driver seat went along with them with its metallic body engulfed by flame. The vehicle was left a smoldering wreckage as gouts of smoke and fire hovered into the air.

Standing up, Lucas slightly grinned at the wreckage as now the entire army of terminators was focused directly on him. The one with a hole in its head was the first to raise its gun but before it could pull the trigger, a shot was sent right through its shoulder blade making its arm drop the laser rifle nearly severing its arm completely from its body. The terminator looked at the dropped rifle and then up at the roof of the small building. Its red screen scanned Arnold ejecting a spent cartridge from the Longshot rifle and loading in another. The terminator's eyes shrank with annoyance going to pick up its rifle but suddenly a hail of bullets rained down on it tearing it to pieces. It was knocked to the ground, terminated.

The rest of Gamma turned their attention to the other terminators sending down a wave of hot lead as now even Arnold had replaced the sniper rifle with his own Lancer, joining in on the mass of bullet rain. The bullets were jumbled together with a storm of laser fire as both armies expertly shot at each other. The terminators that were left sent up a torrent of laser light as they tried to halt the bullet barrage.

Lucas was holding his Lancer with pride in a sort of triumphant stance. That was until a sound entered his ears. He looked back across the scarred landscape and saw a black shadow rising over the horizon. It was coming up fast and he took a step in that direction to get a better look. It was like a black blanket that covered the landscape beyond the horizon. The ground was beginning to rumble as Lucas knew what was approaching. Taking another step, transfixed on the oncoming shadow, he gripped his Lancer with a sort of reluctant fear. The small gravel on the ground began to jump with his feet quaking from the ground beneath.

He then saw it as his heart leapt into his throat. His first glimpse of the aliens. A whole vast army of them at least 10,000 strong. They spanned as far as the eye could see and they were coming up over the horizon like quick, brutal insects.

Lucas could only think to himself that Gamma 9 was good but taking on that many was far too ridiculous. They would never survive. Lucas looked back up at the roof of the small building, yelling upwards, "Hey Lieutenant, umm, you might want to consider calling in for an EVAC right about now!"

Arnold paused firing at the terminators and answered back, "KR18 is on its way Lucas, get your ass up here now!"

Still hypnotized by the vast number of incoming aliens, Lucas only broke away from the sight after hearing Arnold scream at him, "You heard me, Gear! Mach 10 your shit!"

He turned away and saw the small army of terminators blocking his way. There was only one way to get up to the top of the roof. He had to go right back through them. Charging for the doorway, ignoring all of the terminators, he came close but before he got in through the doorway, he felt a hot poker go right through him.

The terminator with the one eye had dragged itself to the front of the building, tracking Lucas running for the doorway. It was still aiming its laser rifle right at him as a small column of smoke was floating out of the barrel. Clutching the side of the building with one hand, trying to steady its gun with the other, the terminator get Lucas locked in its sights. That red night vision screen still extremely twitchy and it was having a hard time tracking him but suddenly it let out another burst of laser energy nearly striking Lucas right in the same arm he had taken the last shot.

Lucas fell on the ground inside the building and one of the larger T-800s caught sight of him. It had a medium sized Gatlin laser built right into its left arm, firing right at Lucas. Grabbing a hold of the step railing, Lucas began to fire at the big machine with his Lancer until it ran out of ammo.

Unloading the empty clip he rolled up the stairs with his arm in bad shape. His wound wasn't bleeding though since the laser blast had cauterized it on impact. It just made it hurt even worse. In a way, it helped Lucas reach the top of the steps were the hatchway was. He quickly clambered up to the roof and wormed his way opposed to where Gamma team was.

Arnold looked back and saw Lucas sitting on the corner of the roof, reloading his Lancer. He rushed over and caught sight of the hole in his arm. It was black around the edges and some white smoke was coming off it. It was just below the bicep making Arnold slightly grimace at it, asking, "You good to go, Lucas?"

Lucas pulled back on the locking mechanism of the rifle, securing the magazine in place. He looked back up at Arnold with a snarl on his face and a killer glair in his eye, " Like a nitrous loaded Centaur!"

Pushing himself up, Lucas grunted out with pain as Arnold helped him up. Back on his feet, Lucas and Arnold went to help out the rest of Gamma squad.

The entire team continued to rain bullets down on the mechanized army. White sparks shot up from the bullets hitting the metal. The storm of lead doing little to push back the oncoming terminators.

The one-eyed terminator snuck into the building behind the T-800, proceeding up the steps, holding onto the railing as it climbed upwards, malfunctioning badly. Each step drawing it closer to the hatchway to the roof. As it climbed upwards, it didn't even noticed what happed to the big T-800 it had snuck past.

One of the Gamma soldiers, far away from both Arnold and Lucas, took a throw with a grenade and the thing struck right into the right arm of the T-800. The machine was knocked right off its feet after the explosion but was still functional. Even though its right arm was gone and some of the armor of it right leg was now in several pieces across the grey destroyed city terrain, it still tried to lift itself back up but it was too heavy. It just rolled onto its back letting loose with its Gatlin laser.

"Hey Arnold?!" The Gear that had disabled the T-800 yelled out to his superior.

Arnold continued to blind fire with his attention fully on the soldier.

"Let me borrow that Longshot."

Arnold threw him the sniper rifle off his back. Catching it without any trouble, he aimed right at the big, downed terminator through the blue colored scope. He pulled back on the trigger sending the sniper round right into the gun, sending some blue sparks from the entry point. The bullet went right through the heavy armor of the big machine and plowed into the ground.

The T-800 looked at the damaged, weapon appendage but then refocused right back on the squad and began to fire again. This time though the power in the weapon backfired inside the multiple barrels, exploding out from the downed machine. The explosion cleared and knocked the rest down. No damage was sustained by any of them except for some charred metal but it did get their attention.

The soldier threw back the sniper rifle to Arnold, telling him, "Worked out better then I had hopped!"

Grabbing the rifle just in time, Arnold watched his man get riddled with laser shots. The Gear soldier looked at Arnold with a surprised look as he fell to the ground dead with a pool of blood leaking out of his mouth; a white cloud of smoke bellowing out of his back from the shots. That surprised look etched on his face and his body limp on the concrete.

"No!" Arnold yelled out but it was too late for him. Twisting his head, he caught a glimpse of the one eyed terminator. It too turned, gazing at him with its one red eye shrinking. It was focused right on him. Arnold saw the laser rifle swing towards him as he popped out the spent shell casing. The terminator pulled back on the trigger forcing Arnold to roll out of the way from the fired shots.

Lucas swiftly turned around in shock not hearing or even knowing of the dead Gear soldier. He had been so busy shooting the ones on the ground that he had not noticed the half terminator that had snuck up the steps, killing one of the last team members of Gamma squad. He still wouldn't have known about it if those laser blasts hadn't past by him so close or Arnold hadn't rolled out of the way. Lucas swung his Lancer around, ready to annihilate the sneaky mech-soldier.

Already having the next bullet loaded, Arnold took aim, blasting the other eye out of the chrome dome of the terminator. The eye blasted with blue and white lightning. The terminator's head snapped back, the bullet going straight through the skull of the machine. It still didn't terminate it though. Popping the spent shell-casing out of the gun, Arnold loaded up another as the sightless terminator fired about wildly, trying to hit his attacker.

Wild shot, laser rounds went everywhere wounding the last, private-ranked Gear soldier of Gamma squad. Lucas dodged out of the way running over to the wounded Gear. He bent over and saw that he had taken a hot blast right through his chest. Lucas took a desperate breath and whispered out, "Oh shit!" He had no idea if the Gear was still alive. Putting his ear close to his mouth he heard shallow breaths. Still alive but he wouldn't be for much longer if they didn't get him some help quick.

Standing up from the wounded Gear, Lucas fired at the machines below in a rampage, trying to keep them from getting inside the building. He emptied the magazine and loaded in another one. He began firing again while Arnold was in a rampaging state of his own.

He bolted the next shell in place, yelling out as he fired, "Die, you metal motherfucker!" The shot blasted the side of the terminator's head destroying the right part of its jaw line. Bits of metal and sparks flew out from is face as its lower jaw hung from its skull. The lower jaw hanging off the face of the machine like loose, broken chain.

The terminator reached over to the destroyed part of its face grabbing a hold of its bottom jaw. It ripped it off its skull discarding the useless appendage, aiming its laser rifle in the general direction of the shot to its face.

Arnold pulled the bolt back on the rifle hard ejecting the shell out of the gun, roaring out with anger. He put the unloaded rifle back on his back gripping his Lancer. He ran at the machine in a hell bent fury, screaming as he rushed the machine. Grabbing the plastic cord just underneath the firing handle, he revved the chainsaw bayonet. Its metal teeth roaring to life with a loud, metallic buzz as black smoke began puffing out of the gun. Getting in close with a hate filled scream, Arnold sunk the chainsaw deep into the machine's neck.

Twitching, the terminator convulsed having its head being severed from its body. Its laser rifle firing into the ground with its metal body shaking from the force of the chainsaw. Blue and white sparks flew off the metal neck of the machine as Arnold roared right in the thing's face as the saw cut right through the metal soldier's neck. Metal pieces snapped off and small electric cords inside the terminator's systems were cut. The blind, metal soldier let out a shriek of the damned as the saw proceeded through its metal bones. Its head thrown into the air, that howl coming out of its jawless face. It sounded like a man's scream but it was all garbled and distorted like on a bad radio frequency or when a voice goes through some spinning fan blades.

Arnold's rifle swung out of the metal onto the ground, cutting into the cement as he realized he was through and shut off the buzzing bayonet.

The terminator's head landed on the grey dirt below now useless scrap. The body collapsed down the stairs and toppled into a pile in the corner on the first floor with the laser rifle still in hand.

Arnold stood tall and said, "Like The 4th Of July!" He looked out past the broken corpse of the terminator. Out towards the south he saw KR 18 coming in from a distance in the sky. It would be another minute or so before the chopper arrived.

Then he saw the ground. It was covered in the black moving mass. It was more aliens. Maybe at least 50,000 strong or more. Arnold put his two fingers to his ear and spoke, "KR18 this is Gamma 9. You'd better hurry-the hell-up! We've got inbound slick-heads to this position just below you!"

"Roger that Gamma, we are aware. We'll get you before they even know you were there."

"Copy KR 18."

Arnold looked over towards Lucas and saw him still fighting the metal squad. He growled a bit and ran over to his position. He began firing down on the army and Lucas asked amidst the gunfire, "The hell kept you?"

Arnold shrugged it off, answering loudly, "Sanity problems!"

The two unloaded two clips between them into the metal-heads but they had only managed to take down one terminator. They had hit a few causing some damage with Lucas taking down at least three while Arnold dealt with another. The armored, metal chassis of the terminator team were more than sufficient for making their rifles nearly useless.

They both kept up the onslaught of hot lead until the metal army had more than Gamma to worry about. The aliens behind them came flooding over the army of terminators and by the time the metal-heads knew what was happening, it was too late. They were overwhelmed by the black blanket of aliens with some purple blasts of laser light escaping out of the wave of xenomorphs. The terminators were engulfed and the only thing that could be seen from them was the anti-air hovercraft which laid in shambles and was covered in an organic hill of aliens. Lucas and Arnold could see a few bright sparks underneath the horde with some splashes of dull, lime-green, acidic blood causing minuet plumes of white smoke to rise from the slaughtered scrap.

Arnold turned around hearing the chopper blades, looking up towards the sky to the south. Sure enough, the King Raven was slowly coming down to pick them up. Arnold walked over beneath the chopper making sure he would be in a good position for pick-up. Lucas followed Arnold leaning down to drag the wounded Gear soldier with him. Lucas was starring upwards as the chopper descended. The Gear was heavy but he didn't care. He was a Gear after all.

Looking at the chopper, Arnold also had one eye on the incoming mass of xenomorphs from the south. They moved with an insect-like precision over the landscape. Like a horde of ants all following one scent trail. Arnold wasn't sure if they actually could make it into the chopper in time.

The helicopter dropped a line down to the three, Arnold being the first to climb up the line. He froze when he saw the aliens start converging on the building. He was in midair staring at the approaching black monstrosities. The 10,000 from the north and the 50,000+ from the south; all coming together like two black tidal-waves crashing into each other. Arnold climbed in the chopper and stood inside the flying machine looking down at Lucas and the injured Gear soldier. He aimed his Lancer down onto the building's rooftop beginning to fire down at the amassing horde.

Lucas shot at the first few which got onto the roof and they fell on top of the horde in a black, acidic mess. The acid did some effective damage below but not enough to stop the wave of black, monstrous creatures. In fact, it only seemed to drive some of them into a crazed frenzy.

The Gear on the ground, held by Lucas, was barely awake slightly seeing what was going on. He looked around seeing Lucas firing like mad to keep the aliens away from the both of them. The Gear removed his pistol from the holster and began to fire at the encroaching army. He hit a few with rounds to their chests and heads but they were starting to flood the building's rooftop. Neither one of them was going to make it for another minute.

Meanwhile, the pilot of KR18 was yelling at Arnold that they were out of time.

Arnold just yelled back, "That's a wounded Gear down there! Make time!" The pilot let out a long, drawn out breath of frustration trying his best to keep the chopper steady.

Lucas and the Gear back on the ground were having a hell of a time keeping back the swarming monsters. One of the space demons grabbed the wounded Gear by his leg, dragging him towards the others and itself.

At least nine shots of hot lead were sent directly into the captor's head making it fly backwards from the sheer force of the shots; dead and bleeding out streams of acid blood. Its acidic anatomy spilling out of its mutilated, long head; raining down onto the horde below but not even slowing their assault.

Turning back around, Lucas emptied his magazine into three more aliens behind them. He reloaded his Lancer quickly with his last magazine. Arnold bent out of the chopper, yelling down, "Lucas - tie the cord around him!"

Lucas didn't want to stop firing but he figured it was the only way to get the soldier out of there. Lucas put his Lancer on his back grabbing the cord out of the sky. The pilot above tried to keep the copter steady and low as he could while Lucas tied the cord to the injured Gear's leg. He didn't want to tie it around his chest for fear of injuring him more. He tied it tight and then grabbed a hold of the cord himself. Lucas made a thumbs-up for the pilot to fly upwards. They were both lifted right off the ground as the wounded Gear kept firing until his pistol clicked empty. Ejecting the empty magazine out of the pistol the Gear felt lightheaded heading upwards.

Aiming downward at the monsters, Lucas didn't fire for fear of loosing the last bullets he had left. He watched the entire roof turn black as the army of aliens flooded the rooftop and began to gaggle in the middle after the chopper.

The two Gears were now in the air as Lucas hung on for dear life with the wounded soldier upside down. He was having a hard time keeping his wits about him because all of the blood was rushing to his head. He dangled in the sky as the helicopter was still not too far from the ground. Lucas was about to latch onto the cord with his other hand when suddenly he felt a hard tug on the line. He looked down at the wounded Gear and saw that one of the aliens had latched onto the body of the soldier. He groaned with frustration as he fired down at the abomination.

His stream of fire was soon cut off by the rifle clicking empty and another xenomorph jumped right off the collected army, on the roof, onto the body of the upside down Gear, joining the other. It dug its claws deep into the armor and exposed flesh of the injured man. Lucas ejected the empty magazine and roared out down to the injured Gear, "Come on man! Shoot those sons-a-bitches!" Not knowing his Snub pistol was empty.

The closest one to Lucas suddenly launched off the body of the dangling soldier going right after him. It came after him like a slick, black torpedo. Lucas hatefully watched the alien fly through the air seemingly defying physics itself. The powerful, black creature darted right at him making Lucas focus and determined but it wasn't enough to stop the monster lunging at him. Only one hope remained as Lucas swung his rifle up to his mouth, placing the starter spring between his teeth. He jerked the rifle revving the chainsaw bayonet. A small plum of black smoke came out of the rifle, the saw roaring to life. Its motor running with a ferocity to match the owner.

He saw the maw of the black monster open wide seeing that second mouth protrude right out as the creature hurled towards him with claws outstretched and both sets of jaws poised to eviscerate his face. Lucas just prepared for impact with the chainsaw bayonet running at full speed. He raised his rifle to his face to slice the monster in half.

From above came an unexpected hail of bullets on the monster forcing it right out of the sky onto the black, massing force of aliens on the ground. The bullets slammed right into its head causing several holes to riddle its elongated skull. A small splash of acidic blood flew onto Lucas's face as he closed his eyes and swung his face to the left. The splash ate through his right cheek as Arnold began to yell at him, "Come on Lucas! Get your ass up here, now! Get cranking Gear!"

Lucas opened his eyes seeing Arnold's hand open waiting for him. Lucas began to pull himself upwards with the acid on his face fueling his pain and his adrenalin. He was growling as he struggled to drag his entire body weight up the cord to where he could reach Arnold's hand. Having a death grip on the cord and his rifle.

With just two pulls up on the cord, he was close enough to where he could let go of the cord and grab onto Arnold's hand. Arnold struggled to pull Lucas up into the chopper nearly dropping him a couple of times. Arnold screamed out as he held onto Lucas with both hands finally getting him into the chopper.

Lucas rolled over onto his back screaming in pain. Arnold looked around the chopper and saw a glass emergency kit. He broke the glass grabbing the first-aid supplies inside. Lucas was roaring in pain and had set his Lancer aside. The acid was starting to eat right into the bone of his face but Arnold stopped it by grabbing his canteen and pouring most of it right onto the wound of Lucas. Lucas screamed with a howl that even the pilot heard over the chopper blades. He looked back and saw the two Gears down on the floor of the helicopter. He yelled out, "What the hell is going on back there?!"

He got no answer and decided to go back to flying the chopper.

Meanwhile, Arnold was now dousing the wound on Lucas's face with a new liquid. A powerful disinfectant knowing that Lucas might have died if he hadn't acted fast enough. He began to wrap Lucas's head in bandages as Lucas had lost the feeling in the right side of his face. All the sight from his right eye was gone as well. Neither of them knowing if it would ever return.

After Arnold was done wrapping up Lucas's face, the real pain had subsided. Now, all that Lucas felt was just a constant clawing to his cheek and his right eye felt like it was going to roll out of his skull. He couldn't explain it but the feeling was sickening to him. His right eye was trying to tear-up but it couldn't and it bugged him. Not only with that clawing but a twitching of sorts. Like the muscles in his eye were at their breaking point and would snap in two at any moment inside his head.

Standing up, Lucas looked back out of the chopper at the cord swinging in the air with no Gear at the end. He had seen out of his left, good eye that the cord was cut and he quickly looked back at Arnold. He stomped over to him. Arnold was sitting on one of the metal benches in the chopper. Lucas got right in his face and began screaming at him, "Where is he?!"

Arnold slowly looked at Lucas from staring at the floor of the helicopter. A look of silent defeat was in his eyes as he stared down the only Gear left from the attack. "I had to make a choice Lucas. He was already lost. If I had forgotten about you and tried to save him, then that acid on your face probably would have eaten right through your head. Then both of you would have been dead!"

Grunting through the pain, Lucas snarled out, "You goddamn, son-of-a-bitch! You never leave a fallen Gear! Fucking coward!" Twitching from pain, Lucas stood his ground.

Arnold stood up staring down Lucas, even though he was about half a foot taller than Lucas, the younger Gear commanded respect from him. Arnold couldn't tell if it was the new terrible wound that Lucas had just sustained or if it was his attitude for the fallen Gear. Either way, the hardness of the young Gear shined through and Arnold couldn't help but slightly be taken back by it. That didn't mean though that he was going to back down from being insulted like he had just been. Arnold was a veteran and was not a Lieutenant for nothing. He had far too many examples for the young fighter to prove he was no such thing as a coward. "I could throw you out of the Raven right now and you could go down there in that mess and look for him, if you want?!"

Lucas being as irritated and irrational as he was right then had forgotten he was talking to a superior officer and he really didn't care. He had left a Gear to die. "You should have been faster! Fuck what happen to me! Trying to blame this shit on me?!"

Arnold snarled in Lucas's face, "Look at the cord, Private! It was cut! That bug had him before I dragged your half-dead ass in this chopper. There was nothing I could have done even if I had been faster! I made a choice! You don't like it…" Arnold sat back down looking out the open side door of the helicopter. "Then get the fuck off my team."

Lucas sat down across from him on the other side of the Raven and said, "I'm not on your team, sir! I'm the last of Bravo squad, case you forgot, they're all dead!"

Arnold began to grind his teeth, "Yeah, and I'm the last of Gamma squad!"

"Who's fault is that?!"

Arnold sneered with his teeth still clenched together, "Will settle this after the war, private! Don't forget we're in this together now and we're part of the same unit."

Lucas snarled.

Arnold added, "Whether we like it or not!"

The chopper pilot looked back, saying, "Excuse me for interrupting, sir, but I have something here for you from command. It was meant for Gamma and Bravo both but I guess that isn't happening now. The two teams were suppose to…"

Arnold cut the pilot short, "Just tell us what it is!"

"Well, I think I'd rather let 'it' tell you."

Suddenly, a big metal shape blasted into Arnold's vision. Lucas raised his Lancer nearly blowing away the hovering robot but Arnold made a signal to lower his weapon. Lucas was a little reluctant but then lowered the rifle not taking his finger off the trigger.

Arnold stared at the hovering robot and just utter out, "A geobot?" He looked at it and could see that it was different then the JACK version.

It's head then split open as a screen popped out with a beautiful young woman's face on it. Her hair was a bright red, almost looking orange. Her face was soft looking and pleasant to the eye. Her skin seemed to shine and her lips slightly pouted. They were a bright red and her eyes were an emerald green which seemed like jewels set in front of a sunset with that cascading orange hair behind them. Her gentle features were an absolute joy for Arnold knowing who she was before uttering a word. His joy becoming overwhelming.

"Not just any geobot!" Her voice was young and sounded like a co-ed in high school making her young features all the more younger. She was quite mature and very intelligent though despite the way her voice sounded.

Arnold's voice was no longer that hard razor's edge it had been. It had smoothed out quite a bit and now was a kinder voice. It sounded like a normal man's voice instead of a war-hardened veteran's voice. "Amber?!"

Amber slyly smiled on the screen, saying nonchalant, "Hi dad."

Arnold was at a loss for words. It had been a long time since he had seen his daughter. The last time he had seen her was when she had just graduated from a COG tech-school. She had graduated with honors and he had sent her off on her way. Now, here she was. A mission assistant. He couldn't help but be damn proud of her.

She spoke again. "Dad…"

Arnold cut her off. "Amber, try to be professional. I raised you better then that. It's lieutenant."

"Fine. Lieutenant - where's the rest of Gama 9?"

Lucas was the one to answer on that. "They're dead, alright?!"

The geobot turned around to face Lucas and when it did, Lucas and Amber came face-to-face with each other. Amber looked at the wounded Gear not with a hatred but more of a testiness. "And who might you be?"

Lucas stared at the beauty with his one good eye and was slightly embarrassed looking the way he did. He was trying to hide it though. After all, he didn't want a gorgeous girl looking at him wrapped in bandages and caked with dirt. The split-second he had seen her face he was somewhat transfixed on her. He could hardly bring himself to snap back at her but he did try. "I'm Lucas." That was all he could get out.

Arnold could see he was a little smitten with his little girl but he ignored it. Just adding it to the list of things he didn't like about Lucas's personality. "This is Lucas, Amber. Last surviving member of Bravo 2."

The geobot turned around and Amber's face once again graced her father's eyes. She looked at her dad with remorseful shame. Not for him but for Lucas. She was kind of embarrassed that she had treated him like that. She had no idea. "Oh." Was about the only word she could think of to say.

The geobot turned back around to face Lucas as he was sitting on the metal bench, once again staring at Amber on screen. Lucas's team was put to the side of his mind because of him being smitten. Freeing his mind of their deaths. Not just theirs but Gamma 9's as well. As a young soldier, he had still not learned how to cope with death too well. Amber's beautiful face was kind of helping him with that though. Her sweet voice was also soothing as she said, "I'm sorry Lucas, I didn't know."

Lucas's one good eye just relaxed a bit as he said, "It's alright, how could you've?"

"Amber?" Arnold asked.

The geobot turned around once again having Amber and Arnold looking at each other. "You were about to tell me about this geobot."

"Oh, yeah!" She said, coming out of her slight depressive state. "This is the model REX. An all-in-one combat geobot. It can do all the things the model JACK can do and more upon voice command. It even has 10mm guns underneath itself for self-protection. It comes with a state-of-the-art hack OS. An in-built medical supply kit, repair module, thirty-five different mapping modules, and…"

Lucas rolled his eye with all this techno-babble and interrupted her with, "Can it cloak and rip doors?"

The geobot turned around and Amber had a giddy smile on her face. "Unlike the JACK model it can not only cloak itself but things of equal size to it that it touches and it can rip doors almost 5x thicker than what the JACK model could." Her tone of voice was very haughty on the subject as if she had built it herself.

The geobot turned around as Arnold said, "Okay Amber, we get it. It's impressive. There must be a reason command sent it down for us."

Amber's tone changed in a hurry. It became professional and somewhat mono-tone. Arnold was now happy and kind of disappointed at the same time. He was glad to hear his little girl finally acting like a woman but at the same time; he was sadden that she was no longer a little girl any more. He didn't want to think of her as a mission's informant but as his daughter. One to love and to hold in his arms. This is war though. He put his personnel feelings to the side as much as he could and tried to remain professional too.

"Command was hoping for a team combination of both Bravo and Gamma. Territories have been falling into XT hands and they wanted you two to sort it out." Amber said.

Lucas squinted his eye not knowing what an XT was.

Arnold saw this and decided to inform him. "Boneheads." Lucas understood now. Yahajula. Predators. XT was the official name command had given them.

Arnold focused back on Amber asking, "Why us? Skynet has had the entire New England area of the country on lockdown for years. I say anyone cracking the metal-heads' defenses is a good thing."

Amber was quick with her answer, "Command would rather deal with an enemy that they know rather than one they don't. Besides, loosing the entire north-eastern seaboard to any one army would be bad, let alone the XTs. We still have pockets of resistance in all 13 states and some are actually starting to loosen up the death grip that Skynet has but XTs are not only impeding on Skynet's forces their also stopping us cold too. They're not making are job easier; they're making it more difficult."

Lucas gave a slight sarcastic breath, "No surprise there! Damn invisible, cloaked fucks! I guess the metal-heads are having a hard time tracking those bastards with their night vision."

REX turned around so Amber could face Lucas. "Affirmative. XTs give off no heat signature either so infa-red doesn't work. Intelligence tells us that Skynet has been scrambling for months for a way to track down the XTs. Your two squads were to combine along with a third in the area for a full on assault of the New York area. Command figured if three squads could converge together in one area and hold it for reinforcements we could have had a foothold in the New York area. For the first time in two years we could have an actual working HQ in New York City."

Arnold spoke, "That's not going to happen now, is it?"

REX turned to face Arnold with Amber still on screen. "No, its not. I'm writing the report up now as we speak of both of your squads KIA. Looks like you're both part of Gamma now."

Arnold thought back to something Amber said earlier. "Amber?"

Her attention was attained.

"You said something about a third squad. Where were they?"

"Ah yes, Broadway Squad. KR-18 is taking you to them right now. You are to converge with them and await further orders from there. Only…" Amber's voice trailed off.

Lucas just shook his head, "Let me guess, something went wrong."

Amber nodded. "Affirmative. We lost radio contact with them several days ago."

"So, how in the hell are we suppose to know where to 'converge' with them?!"

"They have coordinates for a pick-up point. KR-18 is sending you to them right now."

Arnold spoke up this time. "So you're dropping us off in the middle of heavy metal-head territory and hoping for the best?"

Amber gave a long sigh and said, "I'm sorry dad. It's what command wants."

"Amber, how many times do I have to tell you, don't call me…"

"Oh fuck, hang on!" The pilot shouted back at the two Gears.

Suddenly, the tail of chopper was hit by a huge blast sending the tail and the chopper itself swirling in opposite directions. The tail landed on the ground in a fiery heap while the body continued to swirl in the air, plummeting downward. The pilot tried his best to keep the falling copter level and straight but to no avail. Lucas and Arnold were both holding onto some bolted metal straps as the chopper spun downward. REX packed himself up like the JACK unit and flew out of the chopper not really going too far from the crashing vehicle.

The chopper landed windshield first, smashing the pilot, killing him instantly. It skidded on the ground coming to a dust exploding halt. Lucas had been thrown out of the helicopter by sheer force of the machine coming to such a hard stop while Arnold had been knocked unconscious. Lucas's body landed about ten feet from the downed chopper as he was now face first in the grey dirt of New York City. He looked up and saw REX hovering down towards him. His left shoulder had been cut-up from some debris on the ground. REX, now in his full geobot form, started to patch up Lucas. Disinfecting the wound and burning the skin around the gash so that it would fuse together. A sort of cauterizing stitching. Didn't separate the fact it still hurt like hell.

Lucas got up with REX right beside him and looked over the crashed King Raven. There was no use even trying to save the pilot. Lucas could already see the red pool soaking the landscape around what use to be the front of the chopper. That only left Arnold. He dragged himself over to the side of the downed helicopter and looked inside the side area. There was Arnold, passed out but alive. Lucas dragged him out of the helicopter wondering to himself what had just hit them. He moved Arnold over to the left side of the opening where the two had originally entered. Lucas was on the right side with his left shoulder bugging him still. REX hovered to Arnold and started scanning him, making slight beeping noise. Lucas was concerned for Arnold but figured REX would help him if he needed it. All the geobot did was give him a shot of something and that made Lucas jumpy. Lucas asked the metal hover rover, "Hey! What was that?!"

REX looked at him and then his face split open revealing that screen again. A bunch of green colored lettering began to flash at Lucas describing the compound which was just injected into Arnold. Lucas looked at it confused and thought to himself it would have been helpful to anybody who understood medicine. Unfortunately, he didn't.

What REX was trying to tell him was that it was a simple muscle relaxing compound just to make him sleep better and calm his nerves a little when he woke up. Though it would be a while yet and the two culprits behind shooting down KR-18 were steadily approaching the two Gears.

Arnold was lost in dreams and he was dreaming back to his first assignment when he was still a private. He was part of Delta 12 back then. A woodland squad stationed in the forests of Washington state. They had been assigned to investigate a disturbance at a Gear camp. What they got was the shock of their lives and Arnold being field-promoted to sergeant.


	2. Ghost in the Woods

Arnold held the picture of his daughter close to Ray for him to see. Ray just smiled and told Arnold, "My God Arnold, she doesn't look a thing like you! Thank Christ!"

Arnold just smiled at the comment and both of them stood in awe at her beauty for a minute. Arnold then said, "Can you believe it, she'll be graduating from the academy in just three days! I'm going to be there for it too."

"You think the commander will let you go?"

Arnold put back the picture of his daughter and just looked at Ray sideways. "He doesn't have a choice. Since it's a COG academy the governments' are paying for it all."

Another voice piped up from a bottom bunk adjacent to where Arnold and Ray were standing. "All four of my boys are in the academy. They're going to be snipers just like their dear ol' dad!"

Arnold just sneered at the soldier, "Carmine, I've seen you take shots. If the target isn't made of porcelain and your aiming at something bigger than your dick, you aren't hitting shit!"

Carmine laughed a bit not fully understanding the joke. He really wasn't that bad of a shot. Well, with a sniper rifle anyway. He did, on the other hand, have problems with his Lancer rifle. He wasn't really to skilled at using it. He had went through basic with it but he was just better with a bolt-action Longshot. Mostly because he had problems holding onto the magazine clip where as the Longshot he just had to load one single bullet.

Delta 12 hadn't done anything for awhile and the other member of the squad were still asleep. One was resting comfortably in his bunk under a blanket of grass he had made himself. His name was Drake and he was a bit on the quiet and weird side. He was a certifiable genius when it came to anything woodland putting shame to any would-be wildlife ranger.

The squad was in a small metal shack that just held two bunk beds and a small table with a gun-mount just beyond that. They were part of a small woodland operation scouting base. Them and two other squads were stationed at the base and were part of a larger scale force to take back the entire state of Washington. Most of the woodland area of the northwestern United States was Yujanti territory. They liked all the trees and high ground they could hide on.

Ray sat back down on his bunk and said with his hands over his face, "God, I hate this!"

Arnold just looked at him. "Hate what?"

Ray threw his arms up. "This! All this... nothing! I'm bored out of my mind here! You know, that damn Alpha squad has gotten all the damn missions! They're the ones out there, humping through the woods finding stuff."

Arnold just made a grunt, "What have they found in the two months they've been out there?! Nothing!"

"They're the ones out there having all the fun!"

"Oh yeah, looking at grass and trees for two months, real fucking exciting!"

"I'm just saying, why can't we go out there and do that. It'd be better than sitting on our asses in here, playing Pinochle and Poker!"

Carmine decided to chime-in, "Don't forget about cleaning our rifles."

Ray just looked at Carmine with a blank stair. "I don't think any of us 'clean' our 'rifles' as much as you do Carmine."

Carmine just shook his head, saying, "Yeah, I think I do clean my rifle pretty often." Still not really getting the joke.

Arnold couldn't help but turn his head a bit and try not to laugh right in his face.

Suddenly, the Sergeant came in and shouted, "Alright company, drop you're cocks and grab you're socks! We've got an assignment."

All three of them sprang out of their respective bunks and stood at attention. Except for Drake. He was still asleep.

Sarge looked over at him with this subdued anger barely raising his voice when he said, "Would somebody like to wake the earthworm?"

Carmine went over to his bunk and shook him out of his sleep getting a slight bit of mud and dirt on his hands. Drake woke a little groggy and sat up. Meanwhile, Carmine was wiping the dirt off his hands making a disgusted sound while he did it.

Drake looked up at Carmine and said, "Jesus, it's just dirt!"

Carmine was back in line with the other Gears and asked, "Anybody ever tell you you're weird?"

Drake rose out of his bunk pushing his grass blanket to the side and stood up right next to Carmine asking, "Anybody ever tell you to take a fucking breath mint?"

Ray couldn't help but add a bit of his own humor to this situation, "Yeah, sorry about that Drake, I asked him to swallow last night."

The sergeant was getting a little annoyed. "Alright, knock it off! We don't have time for this shit!"

Arnold was a little interested at the forthcoming assignment. He hadn't seen the commander this way in a while being nervous about something. Arnold guessed it was the mission. He already knew it wasn't going to be good.

"We lost contact with Alpha squad about four hours ago. Now, as you all know, the minimum recon activation time is eight hours but the captain has decided to jump the gun. Alpha was stationed in red quadrant which is only about 3 hours walking distance from here. Red quadrant has also been checked and rechecked time and again by Alpha squad. Why they went off the grid though is something to say the least… disturbing. No enemy activity has been recorded out there for a good long time. In fact, the last known activity was four months ago when we killed those two boneheads out there and it took us three days. I'm sure you all remember that. Both Carmine and Arnold about lost their lives out there.

We are to report back to the captain with any word on Alpha squad or anything else because as he said, 'We might be in big trouble.' Let's move out!"

The five men grabbed their gear and began to head out. Sarge on his way out, said, "Carmine, make sure you get JACK too!"

Carmine turned back around and went to the back of the barracks. JACK was in his lock position in a small metal cylinder. Carmine knocked the metal cylinder and the geobot sprang to life. It hovered out of the metal tube and right next to Carmine. Carmine just looked at JACK and said, "Let's go JACK, we got work to do."

JACK took off along with Carmine and soon the whole team was walking through the base.

The base was very small and there were only three barracks that held the three teams. They were held up by nothing more then weak sheet metal. The whole base had been put up and was fully operational in just three weeks so it really wasn't all that stable material wise. The sheet metal also formed a barrier around the base as a weak wall. Like that would stop the shot of a laser rifle or the persistence of a large alien force. Not to mention that most of the inner workings of the base really didn't work. All of it was sub-standard and only worked when it felt like it. It even took the captain some time to figure out if they had indeed lost contact with Alpha or if the radio was just malfunctioning again.

The other team was in their barracks kind of doing the same thing Delta 12 had been doing for two months, nothing. Delta walked on by and only one member of the other team saw them go on by. He kind of shrugged it off though but most of Delta could tell that the other squad wasn't too happy about them being on a mission. Both squads were dying for something to do and Delta were the ones picked. The other team would have to guard the base.

Delta also passed on by central control. It too was nothing more then just sheet metal in an octagonal shape surrounding a small computer, a radio, and the captain's office. He was in there as well, still trying to reach Alpha squad. He watched as Delta went on by and his eyes grew intense.

Delta squad exited the base and began to proceed eastward. They walked for some time through the wooded area. The trees let some glimmer of light shine through on the squad and the day was still pretty new. They were heading for red quadrant but they were going slower then normal.

The five gears were out of place in the forest as they trudged on in their heavy armor and Lancer rifles. They didn't blend-in too well to the forest but they were very well trained in navigating it. They couldn't help but look up at the tree lining once and awhile. The trees were beautiful above their heads. The light from the sun lit up the green foliage on the massive trunks of the trees. It was a little relaxing. All of Delta was just happy to be doing something and they were all a little excited about being on a mission. JACK tailing right behind them.

Drake had point and he suddenly stopped. He waved the rest of the team down. JACK didn't have to hover lower because he was already cloaked. The squad was low to the ground and looking at nothing more than a bunch of trees. Nothing different than before but Drake had picked up on something. He wasn't really sure but the Sarge began to crawl closer to him. He whispered in Drake's ear, "What is it private?"

Drake scanned the area with his eyes. He stopped because he had stepped on something and he knew what it was right away. He didn't want the others to walk into some kind of trap. He figured that any number of things could have happened. He didn't see anything nor did he hear anything. He stood up confident that everything was safe.

The rest of the squad stood up with him and Ray couldn't help but comment, "Well, that was entirely pointless!"

Drake reached under his foot and threw a small metal object at Ray. Ray grabbed it without thinking twice and looked at it. It was a small gear. It had a few burn marks on it but it was still perfectly usable. He looked at Drake and asked, "Yeah, what the hell is it?"

Drake was standing facing Ray and said, "It's a geobot part. MAC model."

Sarge then said, "That came from a MAC model?"

Drake looked at Sarge, the both of them knowing that Alpha squad's geobot model was MAC. MAC models were older then the JACK model and had ranged working condition. The range was in-between somewhat & not at all. Either way, it didn't bode well for Alpha squad.

Drake looked out past the trees and saw a small metal mass. He began heading in that direction and the rest of Delta followed. Carmine followed right behind with JACK. Ray dropped the small gear and followed right along with the rest of his squad. Carmine picked it up and examined it. He headed up to Arnold and asked, "How does he know this comes from a MAC model? I've worked on numerous geobots and I can't tell one gear from another."

Arnold didn't even look at Carmine when he said, "I think he knows something you don't."

"What's that?" Carmine asked sheepishly.

Arnold's eyes flashed back at Carmine but returned to the front. "Think about it. There's no metal-heads out here, Carmine. There's only one thing that tiny of a gear could belong to."

Carmine looked at the small gear again, "You don't think Alpha's alive do you?"

Arnold just cocked his head and said, "No Carmine, I don't."

"Why?"

"I don't know. I just feel it. I think Drake feels it too. Him and me, we feel things, you know? It's like a second nature to us. Usually we think about something and it's right. I noticed that about him."

Carmine kept the tiny gear and then stopped when the others did.

Delta squad was in front of a mangled metal mess. Drake knelt to the ground for a closer inspection and Sarge knelt right beside him. The rest of Delta squad stood tall guarding the two. Carmine moved to the left while Arnold and Ray moved to the right. JACK stayed in the back analyzing random stuff. Sarge looked over at Drake and asked, "What is it Drake?"

Drake looked it over knowing exactly what it was. The trees loomed over head as Drake picked up a stick near by and began to poke and prod at the charred metal in front of him. "It's what we feared, Sarge." Drake's eyes raised up from the metal and looked around scanning for anything else. "It's Alpha squad's MAC model."

Arnold and Ray looked at each other and then down at Sarge and Drake. Ray couldn't help but ask, "How do you know that, Drake?"

Drake's eyes were locked on the forest landscape as he answered, "How many squads do you know use the MAC model anymore, Ray?"

Carmine interjected with his own theory. "It could have been laying there for awhile."

Sarge answered him. "Alpha would have mentioned it in one of their reports, kid. Besides, even I can tell there's no real aging on this thing."

Drake agreed and began to poke and prod at the metal mess some more. He then said, "This geobot was taken down about 12 hours ago." Drake's eyes did not lower from the woods. He scanned the entire ground and all of the trees until he found what he was looking for. He pointed over at a tree with deep claw markings in it.

The Sarge looked in the direction of Drake's pointed finger and stood up. Not taking his eyes off of the mutilated tree bark, he ordered, "Arnold! Ray!"

They both took a step towards the Sarge.

"Get over there and check it out."

Arnold and Ray both left the side of Sarge and Drake, heading for the tree. Carmine stayed close to the commander and Drake with JACK also nearby. Sarge bent back down and asked Drake what he saw. Drake's eyes lowered from the tree and looked over the downed geobot. "This thing was in a hell of a fight, Sarge. These marks in it must be at least eight inches deep. Whatever it fought, it wasn't a slickhead or a bonehead."

"Metal head?"

"No metal head could make claw marks like this. At least, none I know of."

"You think it was just a wild animal?"

"No. Listen to the forest, Sarge."

Sarge listened for a minute. The woods was quiet. No rustling, no strange sounds, not even the faintest sound of a bird call. It seemed as though they were the only living creatures in the woods.

Drake finished. "There are no animals within five miles of this place. Whatever did this spooked them. Bats, bunnies, bears, and bobcats alike. We're alone in this forest, Sarge."

Meanwhile, Arnold and Ray were checking out the tree with the deep claw marks in it. Arnold looked it over inquisitively. He put his free hand on the marks and felt how deep they were. Arnold concluded they were about eight inches deep. Just like the marks in the destroyed geobot.

Ray was looking back at the Sarge and then back at Arnold. He put his gun on his shoulder and asked Arnold, "Man, what the hell are we doing?!"

Arnold looked at Ray and asked, "What are you talking about?"

"I mean, shouldn't Drake be over here taking a look at this shit?! He's the great, white hunter!"

Arnold cocked his head in confusion. "Yeah but I'm pretty sure it doesn't take a wildlife expert to know that no animal did this!"

Ray was now confused. "What do you mean?"

"Take a look at these claw marks, man! No bear did this, they're too clean. No wolverine or badger did this either, I'll bet. These claw markings are too precise and too deep. Whatever did this took one slash at the MAC and missed. Then probably took it down there, over by Sarge and them." Arnold said pointing over at the rest of the squad.

Ray asked, "Well, what about…" He stopped himself when he saw a small red pool of blood down by the base of the tree. Arnold watched Ray's eyes travel beyond the tree. Both Arnold and Ray were looking at the same thing in no time. Following the blood trail which lead to a bigger pool of blood, the two gears found themselves not too far from the tree. Both Arnold and Ray approached it carefully. Both of their face were contorted in slight fear and repugnance at the probable realization of who's blood it was. Kneeling down, they looked at the blood puddle closely. They saw something dark and small floating around in the pool of blood.

Both Sarge and Drake stood up from the destroyed geobot, Sarge asking Arnold and Ray, "What've you got over there guys?"

Arnold dipped the barrel of his rifle in the small puddle of blood and carefully fished out the floating object. Arnold looked at it recognizing it as a Gear's dog tags. They were covered in blood so he couldn't see the name on it. He then threw it over to the Sarge off the barrel of the rifle and the Sarge caught it with minimal effort.

He looked at the dog tags and began to wipe the blood off of them with his thumb. Drake looked at the tags in Sarge's hand and asked, "Sarge, who's are they?"

The Sarge saw the name clearly. "Wilson's. He was part of Alpha squad."

Drake took a long breath and looked over at the blood where Arnold and Ray were standing. His eyes were deadlocked and his mind boiling with possibilities at what happened to Alpha squad. He began to look around the forest, trying to see something to give him a clue to what had downed the MAC geobot.

The Sarge suddenly began to walk towards Ray and Arnold leaving Drake in his own world. Carmine was about to follow the Sarge but Sarge turned back and held out his hand and waved him back. "You stay back there, son. Stay with Drake." Sarge then continued his trip over to the puddle of blood.

Carmine looked a little emotionally hurt by the statement. He looked over at Drake who had his back to him. Carmine felt like a new child in a classroom. He had been with Delta squad for awhile but he still felt as much of a rookie as his first day with them.

He walked over to Drake's side and asked, "What are you looking for, buddy?"

Drake flashed him a cold stair but his eyes instantly went back to the landscape. "I'm not looking for anything. I'm smelling something."

Carmine nodded.

Drake then added, "And don't call me 'buddy' again."

Carmine let out a sigh and tried to make amends, "I thought we were buddies! You know because were in the same…" Carmine was getting nowhere.

Drake didn't pay him any mind as he continued to look in that direction. Something was bugging him about the smell. He knew the smell of burning wood and leaves when he smelled it. He knew that wherever the fire was coming from, it was a campfire.

Sarge, Arnold, and Ray were standing around the pool of blood, trying to figure out what happened to the dead Gear. "Sarge, what the hell happened here?" Arnold asked.

"I don't know Arnold. We're going to find out though!" Sarge began to walk away from the puddle of blood when he heard something. A drop of water hitting a larger body of water. It stopped him in his tracks when he heard the rain droplet sound. He turned around and all ready saw Arnold and Ray's eyes traveling upward. His eyes did as well when they saw what had made the pool of blood.

A large piece of meat was on a tree limb, just hanging there. They looked at it and circled around the tree to get a better look at it. A dangling piece then fell out of the tree and landed on the other side of the tree. The three soldiers went over to it cautiously with their guns pointed right at it.

Sarge was the first one to get close and examine it. He bent down on one knee and inspected the bloody piece of meat. He rolled it over with the barrel of his rifle and then stood up. Ray was the first to ask, "Sir, what the hell is that?!"

"Well Ray, it appears to be a part of human intestines."

Arnold looked back up at the tree where there was still a large chunk of meat in the tree. He asked, "But Sarge…" Arnold was perplexed. "Where's the rest of him?"

The Sarge came back around the tree with Ray close behind. He looked up the tree and said, "I don't know!" He knew that Predators dragged their prey up trees and hung them from limbs and skinned them. This was definitely no Predator but it was acting somewhat like one. Almost like it had it's priorities off. Arnold realized this and he said so too.

The Sarge and Ray's eyes were locked up the tree when suddenly they were knocked out of there trance at the bloody meat in the tree by Carmine. He was shouting at them. They were in such a trance along with Ray that they both aimed their rifles at Carmine. Carmine about fell onto the forest floor in shock but he managed to keep his footing.

Both Sarge and Ray lifted up their rifles, Sarge the first one to ask, a harsh tone still a little shaken up, "What is it Carmine?!"

Carmine got back a little of his nerve and said, "Sir, Drake's acting really weird."

"Alright. Ray, Arnold. You stay with Carmine right here." Sarge ordered.

The both of them agreed and stayed next to Carmine.

Sarge left the group passing by JACK who was hovering over to the group.

Sarge went over to Drake and Drake was sniffing the air like an animal. He still smelled the burning leaves and wood. He also smelled the smallest tinge of fuel. It was a small amount but whoever lit the fire must have used it as an accelerant.

Sarge stood next to Drake and asked, "What is it Drake?"

"I smell a campfire. I think it's Alpha's camp sir."

Sarge looked in the direction Drake was sniffing and began to sniff himself. He turned to Drake and said, "I don't smell anything."

"I know but I do." He then turned to the Sarge and said, "Something's wrong here Sarge."

"Like what?"

Drake shook his head. "That pool of blood over there. If it is one of Alpha squad, where's the shell casings? There wasn't even a weapon fired in the whole area!"

Drake then pointed down next to Sarge's feet and said, "Look, footprints of Gear boots."

Sarge saw them but he hadn't noticed them before. Drake then walked over to them and spoke as he analyzed what had happened 12 hours ago. "See what happened here?" Drake asked, walking in the shadow of the footprints, thinking out loud as he did, "The Gear came over here by the MAC model and got in a firing stance. He was going to shoot at what had torn apart the MAC. Something stopped him though."

Drake then walked over to the first pool of blood and surmised, "This 'thing' picked him up off his feet and first dissected him here." Pointing at the pool, following the trail to the next tree and the bigger pool of blood. "It dragged him probably kicking and screaming right to this spot and then hauled him up the tree and continued to tear him apart."

Sarge came over to the second tree and asked, "But wouldn't that 'thing' have left a blood trail up the tree? Hauling a Gear in full armor up a tree is no way a light task!"

Drake took a breath of frustration knowing that. "He didn't haul him up the tree." By this time, Drake had the whole squad's attention. "He leapt up there."

Ray popped in, not believing the last, "Wait a fuck-nugget! You're telling me that this 'thing' not only gutted a gear once but twice, in a tree with him in full armor, in one fucking bound?!"

Drake looked at Ray, "That's exactly what I'm telling you!"

Ray just sneered at Drake, "You can't be this retarded?! It's not physically possible by any stretch of the mind! The 'thing' would have to have the strength of 10 men and be able to jump at least 30 feet in the damn air!"

"I know. From what I can see it's a lot more agile than anything I have ever tracked! Bonehead and slick head alike!"

Sarge intervened. "Drake, just tell us what the hell is going on?!"

"That's what I keep trying to tell you, I don't know."

Arnold came up to Drake and asked, "Drake, you know something don't you? what is it?!"

Drake looked over at Arnold with this hard fearful look. "I'm scarred, Arnold."

Ray just made a pithy sound and said, "You aren't afraid of nothing!"

Drake's eyes turned towards Ray not even changing his hard fearful look, "First time for everything!"

Sarge just rubbed his chin and then said, "Okay. Carmine, Drake: You're with me. We're going to find out if that burning smell really is Alpha's camp. Arnold,"

Arnold's full attention was locked on his commander.

"You and Ray got ten minutes to find the body that all this blood and intestines belongs to. You don't or do, I don't care which, you come and find us." Sarge pointed in the direction that the rest of them were going and said, "You head in that direction. You should be able to find us. If you can't, we'll give you directions there through the comms. Alright everybody know what to do?"

Ray was the only who spoke up, "Wait-a-minute! We're splitting up?!"

Sarge looked at his man, "Yeah."

Ray just made a deranged laugh and said, "Sure! Why not? It always works!"

Sarge just looked at him and said, "Ray, I don't want to hear it! We're out here to find Alpha squad and that's what we are going to do. You don't like it, you can go right back to base!"

Ray just looked at Arnold and then said, "Leaving Arnold out here alone - I don't think so!"

"Good! Move it Gears!"

The squad then split off into two groups with the Sarge's group following Drake while Arnold and Ray stood by the puddle trying to figure out how to locate the dead Gear. Arnold was looking up in the tree at the meat while Ray was complaining about splitting up.

Arnold saw the slightest trail of blood leading off the branch and dripping down to the ground. He followed the droplets to the ground and saw a very small blood stain circle. He took a few steps closer and then noticed more of the stains. Small but they were left by blood nonetheless. Arnold looked back up at the tree line and saw more blood in the trees. This 'thing' had jumped from tree to tree, tearing apart the Gear soldier as it went. Arnold couldn't help but blurt out, "Oh Christ!"

That got Ray's attention and made Ray walk up to Arnold and ask, "What is it, man?"

Arnold pointed up at the trees and began to follow the blood trail. As he followed the tree trail, he asked, "You see? You see what the hell this thing did?!"

Ray followed closely behind his friend and saw exactly what Arnold saw. Not only did he see the trail of blood but he also saw bloody chunks of anatomy strewn through out the treetops! Arnold and Ray both followed it finding various signs of struggle as they went along. They came past one tree that had blood all over it! Splatters and splotches of blood all up and down the trunk of the tree. As they went past it, Arnold knew what had happened at that particular point. Either the thing had lost the body or he had gotten away from this monster. Tried to fight back but to no avail and got his body swung right into the tree and cut up even more for his troubles.

Arnold and Ray made it to one part where the trail of blood fell to the ground and they tracked it from there. They moved stealthily through the woods at that point trying to see something. The trees were making that hard as the actual forestation was now getting thicker. They finally came upon a mess of red meat lying in a clearing in the forest. Ray and Arnold both looked at it intensely and saw the signs of a Gear's gear. Same color and same make as theirs.

Ray and Arnold were low to the ground upon the sight of the mass of flesh. Ray was trying to get a better look and then spoke to himself in a whisper, "Oh please tell me that's not a Gear!"

Arnold put his two fingers up to his ear piece and said, "Sarge you there? I think we got a big fucking problem in these woods!"

They both heard Sarge's voice in their ear, "Well Arnold, I think you just won understatement of the fucking year!"

Sarge, Carmine and Drake had found the ruined remains of Alpha camp. When they had first seen signs of the camp they had quickly seen signs of a firefight. As they got closer, they found shell casings. Whatever they were firing at, it had taken at least four clips of bullets right in its direction. Which was the way Delta squad was entering. Right through the front gate. Delta had stopped about ten feet from the front gate of the small camp.

Drake quietly encroached on the camp while Carmine and Sarge stayed back. Drake could tell it was the front of the camp by the markers Alpha had left behind. Two large green tents that were facing front ways towards Delta.

Inside the camp, Drake snuck around the right tent, past the front flaps, and anything inside the green tent. The only things he saw inside were some guns and two or three bunks. What he found behind the tent was the thing he really noticed. He had found a dead Gear. The armor was ripped apart and the head of the soldier was missing. It was a bloody mess. Drake couldn't help but look away and then looked back with a sorrowful look on his face. Drake looked away again walking away from the body and into the middle of the camp which Sarge and Carmine had seen.

What they didn't see was the middle of the camp and the savage massacre that Drake was now looking at when he opened his eyes. He was hoping to get a reprieve from the dead soldier and instead all he got was more of the same. His mouth dropped and he couldn't help but mutter out to himself, "Oh God!" He swallowed hard and tried not to be sickened by the sight that he saw but it was hard for him not to feel for his fallen and mutilated brothers.

In the middle of the camp was the campfire burning brightly. Behind the fire, two Gears in several different pieces. The one to the right had been torn in half and his head was missing to. His legs closer to the fire while his torso was stuck to a distant tree with no head. The one to the left had been torn right in half from the head down to the belly. His armor down on the ground in several pieces while his body from the belly up was in two pieces ripped through like a piece of paper ripped down the center.

Sarge, Carmine, and JACK had all followed Drake right into the middle of the camp after waiting for about a minute; stopping at the horrible sight. Carmine was the first to scream and then went over to an out of the way place and puked out his last meal.

Sarge walked over to the two soldiers awe struck by the absolute brutality in front of him. He looked around on the ground seeing that whatever had killed them so violently; had been shot at but there was no blood anywhere except for the red sticky goop that the dead Gears' blood had become. Not really a puddle or a pool, just a sticky mess of red plastering half of the camp's landscape. There was no green florescent blood so it wasn't the Predators. There was no acidic spots so it wasn't the Aliens. No oil or metal bits so it wasn't any of Skynet's forces. Just red, human blood. Sarge just thought to himself what the hell could have done this?

He bent down to the left Gear who had been torn in half like a piece of paper and found his dog tags. He stood up and grabbed the other to the right. Suddenly, Sarge heard Arnold's voice and that's when Sarge told him about making an understatement. He then went on to add, "You guys need to get back here right now! I believe Ray was right."

Arnold on the other end just asked, "About what?"

"About splitting up being a bad idea. We've found Alpha's camp and there's a mess!"

Arnold then said, "Alright we're heading…." Arnold cut himself off seeing that Ray was onto something.

While Arnold and Sarge were talking to each other, Ray had spotted a familiar color. Fluorescent green. It was Predator blood. Ray began to head towards it and Arnold followed. The Sarge was on the other line asking, "Arnold? Arnold come in!"

Arnold replied, "I think we just found what got Alpha squad!"

Drake then piped in, "No! What do you see?!"

Ray then came in, "Shut-up Drake. Where going to erase some boneheads!"

Drake came in louder then ever over the com. "No! Ray listen to me, do not engage! They're not the culprits!"

Ray just rolled his eyes and pushed through the foliage. He gripped his rifle tight as he followed the trail of green glowing fluid hoping that it would lead him to the killers of Alpha squad. He had zoned out Drake's voice as he focused on nothing but the trail of Predator blood.

Arnold could still hear Drake as he followed his friend. Drake's voice was pleading, begging for Arnold to stop Ray before he gave them more problems then what they already had. "Arnold?! I know you can hear me! Stop him Arnold, please!"

Arnold did not reply.

"Come on, man! I know bonehead work. This is something even more dangerous!"

Arnold again did not reply and it was due in no small part to his efforts. He wanted to answer back but he didn't know if Ray could be stopped. He knew Ray to be bull-headed enough that he wondered if even a word from the Sarge would stop him. The Sarge did not pipe in but Arnold was convinced that it wouldn't work anyway. Arnold's head was a mess of thoughts. He wondered if anybody believed Drake. If Drake was right then why hadn't the Sarge spoke to Ray. Arnold wasn't even fully convinced it wasn't the Predators. Sure, they were being extremely sloppy but maybe they were newer recruits to the war. Maybe they hadn't gotten the whole hunting routine down.

"Come on Arnold! Don't tell me you think I'm wrong too?! You're too smart for that!"

Arnold was too. He wasn't a hundred percent convinced that it was the Predators. Even if they were rookies they still would know how to clean skulls and skin their prey. It was basics for their species.

Ray was still tracking the green glowing blood and came to a clearing. He leapt into the clearing and saw at least three insertion pods in the clearing. They were all open and it took him a minute of shock to realize that the Predators that came out of them were dead.

Arnold came up right behind him and saw the carnage. Three dead Predators and it seemed like a fourth a little ways off. Ray lowered his rifle and walked slowly up to the first pod he saw. It was open and there was nothing in it. He stuck his head inside the pod and looked all around inside of it. He saw some monitors and some life support equipment. He came back out and Arnold walked up right next to him. Looking over to the left, Arnold saw a second pod. He walked over to it slowly seeing two dead Predators. The first dead Predator seemed to be thrown over the pod from a distance and half of its torso was ripped apart. Almost like something had been eating it and then threw it off to the side. The second dead Predator was sitting down right in front of his pod and had its throat completely ripped from it body. Arnold was amazed that its head had not come off of its body.

He took his two fingers and began to talk into his communicator, "Sarge? You there?"

The Sarge was there. "Yeah Arnold, you guys alright?"

Ray couldn't help but comment, "It depends."

Arnold just gave a sarcastic look over at Ray. He then said, "Yeah, we're alright. it's the boneheads that aren't."

The Sarge's voice came in loud and clear, "What the hell are you talking about Arnold?! Did you kill them this quickly?!"

Arnold just rolled his eyes a bit. "No. Whatever killed these guys was definitely nothing we've seen before."

Sarge then said, "Alright. I've got to report Alpha squad to command."

Back at Alpha squad's camp, the Sarge waved his hand and said, "Jack!"

The hovering robot flew over to the sergeant's position and waited for further instructions.

"Open a COM channel to the captain."

Jack made a beeping noise and then began blinking with a few blue lights. An antenna stretched out of his back and he was ready to receive and transmit. Sarge saw a part of JACK slide up from below revealing a radio built inside of him. The Sarge began. "This is Delta squad, Captain. Come in?"

Static.

Sarge looked over at Drake and Drake looked back at him with wide-eyed worry.

"Captain come in. We've found Alpha squad. They…they didn't make it."

Fuzz. He could hear a few noises over the fuzz this time though and it sounded vaguely like gunshots.

"Captain? We're planning on an RTB, respond?"

Suddenly, JACK's radio came alive with noise. There was some gunfire and an explosion. Sarge recognized the voice that filled his ears as well as the others. It was the Captain's. "Delta squad? Do not return to base! I repeat, do not RTB! We are under attack by XT-s! We are in extreme lockdown. Try to get to another base! Will hold out for as long as we can but…"

The Captain then exploded with a rage filled scream overlaid by a hail of gunfire! His voice could still be heard as he fired at some unknown enemy. "Come on, you ugly mother…" Suddenly, static took over and they had lost contact with the base.

The Sarge made a sigh of depression and shook his head. He whispered to himself. "We'll never make it. The closest Gear stronghold from here is at least 30 clicks away!"

Carmine looked over at Sarge as JACK came hovering back over to him having its antenna go back down and it radio cover back up. Sarge went down to one knee and was starring down at the ground. Carmine took a step towards Sarge and asked, "Sarge, what do we do? Trojan Base is almost 30 miles away from here!"

Drake walked away from the two and spoke into his communicator. "Arnold, did you catch all that?"

Back at the Predator drop points, Arnold answered back, "Yeah. They probably think were responsible for their boys' deaths over here."

Drake said back, "Negative. I think they're smart enough to know we couldn't do that to them just like we're smart enough to know they didn't do that to Alpha squad."

Suddenly, Carmine piped in. "What are you two talking about?!" Swinging around from the Sarge. "They're attacking base right now! They wiped out Alpha squad and now they're finishing the job!"

Sarge was still on one knee looking at the ground.

Drake looked at Carmine and then said, "I don't think so."

"Why not?!"

Ray finally gave his own thoughts on the situation, "Carmine, listen to them! Now look, they might be attacking base right now but they didn't do this kind of 'killage'! Especially to their own kind! Even if they were going to kill their own kind, I doubt they would do it like this! You're not down here. You ain't seeing this shit dude!"

Carmine just kept quiet as the two began their conversation again.

Drake was the first one to start. "Thanks Ray."

Arnold's voice came into his ear. "Drake, I think we're running out of time."

"Arnold, do me a favor. Look around and describe to me the way the boneheads died."

Arnold shrugged his shoulders a bit and decided to start with the first two. "Well, I've got two right in front of me. The one in front seems to be half-eaten and the other is missing half of his neck!"

"Any others?"

Arnold looked around and saw the Predator Ray had first looked at. Sitting down in front of the pod that was a little way from the others. He walked up to it with Ray close behind. "Yeah here's another. It looks like the half-eaten one was thrown from here! This one though was killed right in front of his own pod. It look like he didn't make it too far. Probably the first one killed."

"Okay, what happen to him?"

Arnold got in close. He bent down on both knees and looked at the dead Predator. A huge pool of green glowing blood was around him and it seemed to pour right out of this gaping hole in its chest. Arnold investigated it a bit and then stood up. "Well Drake, it looks like his heart's been ripped out!"

Drake became very interested in that description. "Arnold, look at it closely! Does his chest come outward or inward?"

Arnold just got this confused look on his face until he saw not only what Drake was asking about but why! "Oh God Drake, its outward! Definitely the work of a Chestburster! You don't think…" Arnold cut himself off with realization at what they were up against.

Drake sighed and said, "I do Arnold. You feel it too, don't you?"

Arnold closed his eyes and nodded his head, "Yeah."

"I didn't think it was possible. No wonder it took out Alpha squad and an entire hunting squad of boneheads!" Drake was now talking more to himself then anybody. "A hybrid! A combination of the boneheads and slick-heads! The strengths of both the weakness of neither! An abomination!"

A Pred-Alien.


End file.
